UAE’s Ahmad Daham rules supreme at Red Bull Car Park Drift Final

Jay Asser 07:45 22/11/2015
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  • On fire: Ahmad Daham became the first man to retain the Red Bull title at Meydan.

    “King of Drift” Ahmad Daham put on a show in front of his UAE faithful to retain his crown at the Red Bull Car Park Drift Final.

    An excited crowd of approximately 4,000 turned up to Meydan in Dubai and saw Daham win the event for a second consecutive year in his Nissan Silvia on Friday.

    Daham earned first place with a score of 358 points in the final round, once again edging out Oman’s Ali Al Balushi, who finished with 335 points. Jordan’s Rafat Haroon’s 306 points placed him third.

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    “It was double the feeling of last year,” said an overjoyed Daham. “Last year I felt great, this time I felt superb. I was happier this year than last year to be honest because I didn’t expect to win two years in a row and no one has won it twice.”

    Lebanese drifter Fadi Boustani didn’t get on the podium, but was the biggest threat to Daham on the night. After entering the Final as an 
    underdog, Boustani wowed the crowd with his nearly flawless second-round to net 370 points – the highest score in the event.

    Boustani was the final drifter to go in the last round, just after Daham, but his drive ended before it started as the car stalled getting out of the gates.

    Though Boustani was given five minutes to fix the mechanical issue, the time was not enough as he was disqualified and the Final ended in anticlimactic fashion.

    “I wasn’t so happy Fadi’s car broke down. I wanted him to be in the competition because I usually give my best in the last round,” 
    Daham said.

    “But 50 per cent of the event is based on the team and the car, and the other 50 per cent is driving. 

    “So his car wasn’t as good as my car to be honest, or at least it wasn’t as prepared as my car.”

    The Final originally started with 15 drifters from across the Middle East, before witling down to eight in the second round and four in the last round.

    While he took home the prize yet again, Daham faced his own challenges on the tight track with his oversized car.

    He lost his spoiler in the second round and in the last round, his Nissan Silvia came out of ‘the box’ – an enclosed space requiring donuts – too straight and knocked over a cone or two in the outer circle of ‘the spiral’.

    The wheel deal: Podium finish.

    “My car is too tall for the track. Each year, the track is tighter,” he said. “I was on the limit and got my spoiler knocked off. The toughest part of the course was ‘the box’ because of the size of my car.” 

    What worked to Daham’s advantage, however, was his consistent success on the pendulum ‘clipping point’.

    After using the same car for three years now, Daham is planning on building a new car for next year’s event. He’ll still aim to keep his current Nissan Silvia for high-speed drifting, with the new one specialising in car park drifting.

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